Alvarez: Congress should decide on ‘no-el’ before COC filing in October

Congress should decide on the postponement of the 2019 midterm elections before the scheduled filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) in October 2018, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said on Wednesday.

In an interview over dzMM, Alvarez said Congress has roughly three months left to decide whether the 2019 midterm elections will proceed or not, as he insisted his push for a “no-election” scenario to facilitate the country’s possible shift to a federal form of government.

“Opo. Bago mag-file ng certificate of candidacy,” he said when asked when the possible announcement on the cancellation of elections will be made.

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Alvarez agreed that it would be hard to cancel the elections once candidates have already filed their COCs.

To avoid further complications and suspicions with the resulting need for the President to appoint new officials whose terms would have expired, Alvarez said it would be more prudent to extend the term of incumbent officials.

In the same interview, the House leader who is also secretary general of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), reiterated that if the Senate would oppose the “no-el” scenario, citizens supporting federalism can conduct a people’s initiative to amend the constitutional provision that requires elections every three years.

The proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution being pushed by the President’s allies in Congress and by the Consultative Committee could pave the way to a shift to a federal form government – one of his campaign promises and an advocacy of his ruling political party.

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